Freedom's Fortress

Early in the Civil War on May 23, 1861, three men escaped enslavement and turned themselves over to the Union Army at Fort Monroe Virginia as refugees. Their names were Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker, and James Townsend. Rather than turn them back as required by the “Fugitive Slave Law” of 1850 the fort’s commander General Benjamin Butler, who just happened to be a lawyer, refused, siting that he was under no obligation to return “materials of war” back to the enemy. The three men were confiscated as “contraband” under the articles of war and given their freedom. The Contraband Decision of 1861 encouraged the enslaved to flee the plantations and farms of the South in the tens of thousands to cross over the Union lines and turn themselves in. Fort Monroe would earn the nickname “Freedom’s Fortress”.  By depriving the Confederacy of its primary labor force, it was this series of events that prompted Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st 1863.https://www.nps.gov/fomr/index.htmThe Joy Trip Project celebrates Black History Month. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American history.#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminuteBecome a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy of The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesedwardmills.substack.com/subscribe